Monthly Archives: September 2016

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Senbla, in association with Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, is pleased to announce that Skyrim™ in Concert, the first ever orchestral concert dedicated to the music of The Elder Scrolls® V: Skyrim™, will premiere at the London Palladium on 16th November.
Based on the award winning score by Jeremy Soule, Skyrim in Concert takes concert goers on a nostalgic, musical journey through the landscape of one of The Elder Scrolls’ most popular instalments. Performed live by the Winterhold Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, attendees will enjoy brand new arrangements of some of Skyrim’s most epic and moving themes, including Far Horizons, The Streets of Whiterun and the rousing main theme, Dragonborn, as well as more surprises on the night.

The concert celebrates the upcoming launch of Skyrim™ Special Edition. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios® and winner of more than 200 Game of the Year Awards, Skyrim Special Edition brings the epic fantasy to life in stunning detail. The Special Edition includes the critically acclaimed game and add-ons with all-new features like remastered art and effects, volumetric god rays, dynamic depth of field, screen-space reflections, and more.

Skyrim Special Edition releases on 28th October, 2016, on Xbox One, PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system and PC. For more information on The Elder Scrolls and Skyrim Special Edition, visit http://www.elderscrolls.com

Tickets for the concert go on sale 10am, 4th October, with ticket prices starting from £26.50.

Pitched as the “24 Hour Party People for games” – independent feature film ‘The Button Bashers’ will combine interviews, script and improv to produce unique but respectful take on the UK gamedev scene from the 1980s.
CONFIRMED CAST AND INTERVIEWS

· Ewen Macintosh (The Office, Little Britain)

· Peter Harrap (Monty Mole)

· Ron Hubbard (Sanxion, Monty on the Run, Commando)

· Jon Hare (Sensible Software)

· Simon Butler (Neverending Story, Highlander, Total Recall)

· And many more below…

Bolton, Greater Manchester: The Button Bashers film is a 100-minute feature film, documenting and dramatising the UK gaming scene that appeared in the 1980s.

Starring Ewen MacIntosh (The Office, Little Britain), this will be made innovatively: part-scripted scenes, part-interview, and as a docudrama. The ‘hero’ of the film is currently known as ‘the Programmer’.

Directed by Lee Bolton, a passionate gamer, he wrote for several years on gaming website ‘Lee’s PeeknPoke’ in the 90s, as well as in various magazines about retro gaming.

The Bolton-based film and television producer/director is not only rediscovering his roots, but he is keen to ensure he perfectly captures not only “that feeling, the excitement and what it was like the game back then” – but also the gamedev scene which exploded in the 1980s.

Speaking recently on regional radio across Greater Manchester, Lee mentioned a “Channel 4 comedian – we’re not allowed to say who it is yet, but we’re in discussion with this person’s agent at the moment.”

The Button Bashers is currently in pre-production with programmers, designers and gamers all wanting to be interviewed. Filming will take place from October 2016 to February 2017.

Following a first round of crowdfunding on IndieGoGo, the film is currently looking for just £5,000 to kickstart the production next month, having already secured funding from local gamer-supportive businesses in Manchester. You can discover the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1388231403/the-button-bashers

The Kickstarter campaign reads: “This one’s for the whizz kids, the buyouts, the money… the magazines and the fascinating, creative world that started a brand new industry. Nothing like it would ever be the same again.”

“We will also cover some of the US influence on the UK, with a segment exploring the meteoric rise of the arcades, and how licences went over creativity towards the end of the 1980s.

THE BUTTON BASHERS is a fun look back the Computers, Games and People – filmed with the ultimate respect.”

Drama cast (more TBC):

· Ewen MacIntosh

Doc/interview cast (more TBC):

· Peter Harrap (Monty Mole)

· Jon Ritman (Head Over Heels, Batman)

· John Gibson (Denton Designs)

· Ron Hubbard (Sanxion, Monty on the Run, Commando)

· Jon Hare (Sensible Software)

· Simon Butler (Neverending Story, Highlander, Total Recall)

· Philip and Andrew Oliver (Dizzy)

· Roger Kean (Newsfield)

· Oliver Frey (Newsfield)

· Gary Penn (Zzap! DMA Design- GTA)

Film is due for full completion June 2017, with BluRay, DVD and small-cinematic release expected afterwards.

The British eSports Association is calling for any final feedback to be submitted before its consultation periods ends on September 30th.
Over the past three months the British eSports Association has been gathering feedback from the UK eSports sector to ensure it fully represents the interests of individuals, players, teams, game publishers and broadcasters alike. With one week to go, the association are inviting any additional feedback to be submitted by Friday September 30th.

Set up to promote grassroots eSports in Britain, they want to know what you’d like to see from them, what challenges you face within eSports and what can be done to grow competitive gaming in the UK. Everyone is welcome to send in ideas.

Whether you’re a player, fan, someone from the eSports or games industry or anyone else, they’d like to hear from you.

Train2Game Student Tabi Polson (Fitsy) is working with an indie studio on its first game: Rocket Rumble
Studio Small Jelly is a new London based studio which is working on Rocket Rumble. The independent studio is using Train2Game student Tabi Poulson to provide insight into the current market and research the potential audience for the game.

Rocket Rumble is a multi-player turn based card game set on rocket propelled ships. It’s a game with a hard-core mechanic at its heart which caters for the casual audience. Players can drop in and play games for minutes at a time but still get there hard-core gaming fix. The artwork was created to be accessible while also being on trend.

A great deal of passion has gone into the game. During testing the team often find themselves’ enjoying the game rather than testing its limits. The Small Jelly team are passionate games makers and hope the success of the game will let them create titles long into the future. The team plan to get Rocket Rumble into Beta at the end of the year.

The Small Jelly team spoke of Tabi’s contribution and how important it is as an Indie to have support. Resourcing as an indie is a challenge, but by working together they have overcome these challenges. Keeping control of the product and working with a great team has been the reward.

Train2Game students can help going into the future by joining the Beta and reaching out to the team to support.

An a full interview with the studio founders is below

What’s your history in the games industry and job history?

Ben: I started my career in the games industry in Vancouver Canada about 10 years ago. I’ve worked on everything from PC RTS to educational games for kids.

Vicky: I spent about half my career as AI programmer for PC and console, then later moved to mobile where I’ve mostly had lead roles.

Where does the name come from?

Small Jelly is really just our surnames Vicky Smalley and Ben Geliher. Vicky’s is easy to see but mine comes from a mispronunciation of my name that kinda stuck as the nickname ‘Jellyhair’.

What are you currently working on?

We’re making our first game, Rocket Rumble. It’s a multiplayer CCG set in space. It’s a bit like Hearthstone meets FTL.

How did you come up with the concept?

Both of us are gamers and have been all our lives. We’re at that point in life where we don’t have as much time to play games as we used to but we still want the same thrill of playing hardcore games.

Most casual games just aren’t exciting to play for gamers and hardcore games tend to need much more time commitment. We wanted to create games that scratched both itches – thrilling to play but easy to pick up and play in a 10 minute session.

The art is outstanding; can you tell us more about how it came together?

It’s mainly the work of our outstanding Art Director Graham Denny! I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for space games and they’ve been having resurgence recently but we knew we wanted to do space in a way that was fun and more accessible than the gunmetal greys and blacks you tend to get. When Graham came on board he got it straight away.

It’s a unique idea; would you say there’s a lot of passion in this game?

There’s a ton of passion in this game; you can’t work in the games industry without it. It helps that we all actually find the game really fun. Sometimes that can cause problems though. When we’re supposed to be testing a new build people are actually just trying to beat each other rather than properly test it.

What’s next for the game in its lifecycle?

We are still in development at the moment but we’re working towards a closed beta at the end of the year. It’s a multiplayer game so we want to get people playing it as soon as possible so we can learn what to do.

What have been the challenges in being an indie?

A lot of the business side of things is difficult. Bigger companies have a lot of specialist departments to sort out every little thing but as an indie you kinda just have to jump in and do it yourself. Everyone’s been great chipping in where they can to bridge the gaps.

What are the rewards?

Working on a game where you are in control is highly motivating. The team is also a big plus. Working with people that are not only amazingly talented but also great fun to work with.

How has Fitsy been helping out?

Fitsy has been amazing in helping us with market research and she’s going to help us going forward figuring out what players want from the game as we develop it.

What are your ambitions for the game?

Our hope is that it is successful enough that we can keep making games. We’re in this because we love what we do for a living and we hope we can create a business that can keep us doing what we love.

How can Train2Game students help you out?

Follow us on Twitter, read our dev blog at smalljelly.com and get involved with the game. As I mentioned, we want to release as early as we can and build a community who can help us make the game better as we build it so if any of your readers are interested in the closed beta then they should get in touch at hello@smalljelly.com.

Over 75,000 gamers attended EGX at Birmingham’s NEC to take part in the biggest and the best gaming show in the UK.
Hosted in partnership with Virgin Media, the show boasted over 200 playable games, the largest showcase of indie games in the world and a host of global first-play exclusives including Bethesda’s Dishonored 2 and Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee.

UK hands-on exclusives included the recently unveiled PlayStation 4 Pro and blockbuster games such as Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Gears of War 4, Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1, Final Fantasy XV, Horizon: Zero Dawn and more – all playable and pre-release. EGX is now securely established as the most important date in the UK calendar for developers to exhibit their latest games and for gamers to experience them for the first time.

EGX has also grown as a place to reveal new games and features, with this year’s show hosting announcements of the next titles from Square Enix Collective and Failbetter Games, and Shovel Knight’s appearance in Yooka-Laylee. Popular elements of the show included multiple eSports stages and tournaments such as the GFinity $100,000 Counter-Strike: GO invitational and the UK’s only Premier Event on the Capcom Pro Tour, as well as the UK Preliminaries for the European Cosplay Gathering.

The show’s official retail partner Amazon offered ultra-fast delivery via Prime Now to the show floor, ensuring that gaming fans could instantly purchase and pre-order games and hardware more conveniently than ever before.

“We’re delighted with the feedback from attendees who loved the introduction of Scan & Buy on the Amazon app for a convenient way to buy and pre-order games and hardware across this leading gaming event“ said Russell Jones, Video Games & Software Category Leader, Amazon.co.uk.

“This was the first time we have offered Amazon Prime customers delivery of products via Prime Now direct to any event, and the service which enabled attendees to order games and consoles was very well received.”

It was not just consumers that turned up in huge numbers as media attendance reached record levels. Hundreds of journalists from all sectors of the media were present and the event attracted national coverage from mainstream outlets such as BBC News, Newsbeat and Newsround, The Mirror and the Sunday Times. Hundreds of influencers including YouTube superstars Syndicate, The Yogscast and Outside Xbox were also in attendance to meet and greet thousands of their delighted fans.

Rupert Loman, CEO of EGX’s parent company Gamer Network added, “EGX 2016 was our biggest and best show yet. I’d like to say thank you to all of our partners, sponsors and exhibitors for helping create another outstanding experience for UK gamers – and of course I must thank the community for making the event so special. Next year will be the 10th anniversary for EGX and we are already planning to mark that milestone with something even more spectacular”.

The next EGX event is EGX Rezzed, taking place at Tobacco Dock in London from March 30th to April 1st 2017. Irrational Games founder Ken Levine has already been announced as the keynote speaker, and tickets are now on sale at www.egx.net/rezzed.

Ukie formally announced the results of its 2016-17 Board election at the trade body’s AGM at EGX.
Veronique Lallier, VP European Publishing at High-Rez Studios, makers of eSports title Smite, joins the Board this year, along with six re-elected Directors.

Andy Payne, CEO of AppyNation, Rocket Lolly’s Ella Romanos, Ian Livingstone, Chair of Playmob, Sports Interactive’s Miles Jacobson and Curve Digital’s Stuart Dinsey will serve another two-year term and Noirin Carmody, Co-Founder and COO of Revolution Software, resumes her role as Chair of the Board for a second year.

It was also announced that Dave Gould, Senior Director of Sales UK & Export, Take Two Interactive, will take the Board Treasurer role.

Forty-two per cent of Ukie’s eligible voting membership voted in the election, which means the Board consists of 21 leading members of the games industry tasked with shaping Ukie’s strategy over the next two years. You can see the full list of the Ukie Board here.

Ukie also used the AGM to call for games companies to support the innovative Digital Schoolhouse programme, which launched nationwide last week, thanks to a new partnership with PlayStation.

The inspiring STEAM-driven computing education initiative is now active in 19 schools across the country, following a hugely successful pilot year in London. The first academic year of the national roll-out is expected to reach 15,000 school children with its unique play-based learning model that inspires children at a young age, especially girls, and equips teachers with creative computing resources and ways of teaching.

Warwick Light, MD & VP, UK & Ireland of lead Digital Schoolhouse partner, SIEE, called for more games companies across the UK to adopt their local schools to become Digital Schoolhouses, to strengthen bonds between industry and education and to help create new engaging ways to inspire children to learn digital skills.

If you are interested in hearing more about The Digital Schoolhouse, powered by PlayStation, or are interested in sponsoring your local secondary school, speak to programme director, Shahneila.

The AGM also saw the launch of The UK Games Map, a new interactive map platform created in partnership between Ukie and Nesta, the innovation foundation. The UK Games Map is the first complete dataset of the UK games industry, designed to chart the size, scale and geography of the sector using an automated Big Data approach.

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said, “This has been a big year for Ukie, for the industry, and for the UK and we are proud to launch two key initiatives at our AGM – the UK Games Map and the call for games businesses to sponsor their local Digital Schoolhouse. These initiatives would not happen without the support of the Ukie Board who have the sector’s best interest at heart, and to the Ukie team, as well as our extensive network of members. I’m delighted to welcome back re-elected Board members and also welcome Veronique. I look forward to working with the Board and team to navigate big changes in the political landscape in the coming year, and making sure that the UK remains the best place to be making games.”

Noirin Carmody, Chair of Ukie, Co-Founder and COO of Revolution Software, said: “I’m pleased to welcome back familiar faces to the Board, and also to welcome Veronique to her new role. The announcement of the UK Games Map and the Digital Schoolhouse, powered by PlayStation, today, exemplify the hard work of the Ukie team and Board over the previous 12 months, and I am proud to be launching these in my first AGM as Chair. I am looking forward to another productive and successful year working with the new team.”

PLAY Expo Manchester, the largest video game expo in the North of England, announced today a series of specialist gaming stages that will feature for the duration of the expo and provide visitors with a weekend of non-stop gaming attractions!
Taking place at EventCity, Manchester, October 8th and 9th, PLAY Expo will have the gaming stages running in addition to the latest games to play, the Red Bull 5G Tournament, VR attractions, merchandising stalls, table-top gaming area, retro-gaming action and so much more, providing a packed schedule of entertainment, with unmissable, interactive attractions for gamers everywhere.

Powered by WiFi Wars and Gamerdisco, the Main Stage will play host to an unrivalled array of industry panels, talks, and perhaps most exciting of all, visitors will have the opportunity to take part in the legendary, multiplayer live show Wifi Wars! Winner of the Time Out coveted ‘Not to be Missed’ award and hailed as a Top Ten ‘Geek Night Out’ by Metro, WiFi Wars is hosted by Steve McNeil (Dara O’Briain’s: Go 8-Bit) and Chris Slight (Sky News) and promises a mad-cap show full of comedy and interactive gaming for all ages!

The Fighting Stage powered by MBA (Manchester Battle Arena) offers a chance for visitors to take part in fighting game tournaments throughout the weekend. With exhibition and casual play available, gaming pugilists can practise to their hearts content and if they’re feeling brave, for a small entry fee of just £5, enter the tournament for their chance to win a share of the £500 prize pot available!

Powered by the prestigious online audio magazine and podcast, The Sound Architect, The Sound Stage plans to offer a fascinating insight into the world of gaming audio, with an eclectic mix of panels, presentations, Q&A’s and much more. Guests to the stage include the award winning, BAFTA nominated composer David Housden, Voice Actor Jay Britton (heard recently in The Turing Test), Sound Designer for the VR phenomenon Eve: Valkyrie, Ash Read and Matt Griffin, composer of Unbox from Prospect Games.

PLAY Expo warmly invites Cosplay fans of Great Britain and beyond to the show! Powered by Rock BandTM Rivals from Harmonix®, the Rock Band Rivals Cosplay Stage will be hosting a number of events throughout the weekend including a masquerade on both days with prizes for the best characters as chosen by our panel of judges! In addition, guests to the expo will have the opportunity to build-a-band and take part in the Rock Band Rivals tournament, as well as previewing the new game before general release! Cosplay specialists Dark Cleo Productions will be organising the stage events and running the Cosplay masquerade. Bound to be the most eye-opening part of PLAY Expo, plenty of press and magazine photographers will be at the event, and the expo encourages everyone to come in character should they feel so inclined!

“As we get ever closer to PLAY Expo, gamers can see just how busy a weekend we are planning for the event, certain to be our biggest expo ever,” said Andy Brown, Director for Replay Events. “We’re so excited to be offering gamers the chance to play the latest games, but that’s only part of the picture. At PLAY Expo, we’re offering so much more to see and do, providing a compelling and truly unmissable weekend of gaming based entertainment for fans of all ages.”

Returning for its fifth year, PLAY Expo Manchester is a highly popular two-day video game event, ideal for all the family and offering visitors an unrivalled experience with features, tournaments, exhibitors, industry guests, panels and so much more. Celebrating gaming and popular culture, the expo uniquely caters for casual fans and dedicated gamers alike and promises to be an event not to be missed.

The highly-anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) system is now available at GAME.
With great offers, demos and expertise, GAME will be the best place on the high-street and online for gamers to get into VR. There will be no better deal on the high street thanks to GAME’s trade-in and finance packages and in addition GAME Reward customers will earn 2 per cent credit on every purchase, earning over £10 back on Oculus Rift.

Instore demos* with GAME experts can be booked online and will allow gamers to both sample immersive gaming, and receive advice on making sure their PC and home set-up will deliver the very best experience.

*Oculus Rift demo experiences are available at the following stores from the dates listed. Demos can be booked through Oculus Live:

Gaming as we know it is about to change, as an exciting and new cloud gaming service, Playkey, has launched in the UK.
Turning gaming on its head, Playkey provides PC gamers with the technology they need to play the blockbuster titles they adore, but with the hardware they can all afford.

How? Well, Playkey delivers top quality video streaming through powerful gaming servers, allowing millions of PC owners across the UK to play the best-selling games on virtually any PC, Mac or laptop.

Whether you choose to explore the many kingdoms and cities as the witcher Geralt in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, or play as the Sole Survivor in Fallout 4, there is a game to suit the tastes of both MMO and hard-core gamers. With over 20 triple-A titles currently available and the site being updated each month, Playkey subscribers will be spoilt for choice.

Playkey is at the forefront of cloud gaming technology, utilising technology almost similar to services such as Gaikai. It provides players with digital download model and a cloud PC rent to suit their gaming needs and once registered you receive access to a handful of free-to-download games and can purchase the latest chart-topping games at retail price.

With subscriptions starting from £0.90 for 1 hour and £9 for 1 month of access, Playkey is the only service which offers a solution to launch games straight after their official PC-release. Furthermore, games previously owned can also be launched on Playkey, if the game is already available on the service.

Egor Gurjev, CEO at Playkey, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be launching Playkey in the UK and our goal is to bring high-quality gaming to everyone, not just those with high-specification PCs. The gaming industry is constantly evolving and growing. We want to provide gaming fans the games they love, without the worry of their technology letting them down.”

A launch demo period is currently available for free and all games are available “as is” with all of their specific features, including multiplayer, social features and achievements.

Playkey is available for Windows and MacOS and for more information please visit www.playkey.net

RPG Creator is coming to iOS on September 25.
Degica Games is pleased to announce a new mobile RPG creation tool is coming soon to iOS!

Finally players can create RPGs on the go with RPG Creator. This unique app will have players building maps, creating non-playable characters and monsters, fighting epic battles, and sharing creations with the world in no time at all!

Features:

· Create villages, castles, caves, world maps and more with the Map Editor

· Easily create events and bring the RPG to life

· Extensive Database allows players to modify and customize their game

· Default resources and assets to get players started or they can import their own

· Play Games made by other users or upload your own creations

RPG Creator will be available on September 25, 2016 on iOS for both iPhone and iPad and will be Free to Play with a Premium version available.

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About the Train2Game blog

Welcome to the official Train2Game blog, a key source of games industry news and discussion for everyone from developers to Train2Game students and their parents.
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Train2Game Blogger Mark

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